MEGAPODID.E. 493 



with long legs, a short hind toe raised above the ground, a 

 moderately long, curved beak, with a wide gape ; is of a brownish 

 colour, and crested. In its anatomy it is stated to resemble 

 Gallinaceous birds, differing in having the sternal emarginations 

 less deep, and in a few other points. " It is," says Blyth, " essen- 

 tially a Poultry-bird, with long legs." 



The family Megapodid^e, or Mound-birds, belong to Australia 

 and the Papuan province of the Malayan Archipelago, extending 

 among the islands as far as the Nicobars. They have all very 

 large and strong feet, with large claws, and the hind toe placed on 

 the same plane as the others. The tail is not always developed, 

 but, when present, consists of eighteen feathers. Some have 

 wattles, but most are devoid of those Gallinaceous appendages. 

 The sternum resembles in form, that of the Cracidce, and the 

 accessory plume to the body feathers is tolerably developed. 



The birds of this family lay eggs of most enormous size, and of 

 a somewhat elongated shape, with a thin shell ;. and they have the 

 peculiar habit of either hatching their eggs by the heat of the sun, 

 or by depositing them in huge masses of decaying leaves and 

 other vegetable matter. Several pairs of birds appear to assist 

 and lay their eggs in the same mound, and the male bird works 

 equally with the female. The eggs are deposited at a regular 

 " depth, and at some distance from each other ; and the young, 

 when hatched, run at once. The eggs are said to be delicious 

 eating. 



Grav divides them into Megapodince, and Talegallince. The 

 genus Megapodius contains a large number of species from 

 various islands, chiefly from the more Eastern portions of the 

 Archipelago. They are birds of plain dull greenish brown plu- 

 mage, somewhat smaller than a fowl, and yet the eggs of Megapo- 

 dius nicobariensis are as large, Mr. Blyth tells us, as those of a 

 Peafowl. The Leipoa ocellata is the most beautiful bird of the 

 group, and is called the Native Pheasant by Australian colonists. 

 Gray places in this division a very remarkable bird, Mesites varia- 

 gata of Is. Geoffroy, placed by others among the Rails. 



Talegalla Lalkami, the type of the other sub-family, is as large 

 as a Turkey, and is called the Brush-turkey in Australia, from 



